The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk held a working meeting with the Heads of supreme audit institutions of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic
First of all, the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to the representatives of each country for their active and consistent support of Ukraine in countering the aggressive war of the russian federation.
During the meeting, the parties discussed parliamentary control over public procurement, which is one of the main functions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In particular, the activities of the Accounting Chamber are dedicated to this.
“It is the Accounting Chamber, as an independent body, that analyses the use of funds from the state budget of Ukraine and informs the Parliament and the society about the results of this control,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine also said that the Ukrainian Parliament exercises its controlling powers by hearing government reports, holding "hours of questions" to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and parliamentary hearings. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has bodies with control functions, in particular, committees, temporary investigative commissions and an independent body with special competence — the Accounting Chamber: “The interaction of the Accounting Chamber with the Ukrainian Parliament is enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine. This body is fully independent and self-sufficient, and plans its activities independently.” At the same time, the Accounting Chamber reports to the Parliament on its work and submits reports on the control measures taken to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Ruslan Stefanchuk emphasised that this is especially important in the context of independent verification of the legality of the use of macro-financial assistance from partner countries and the efficiency of public spending. “The main task and goal of the Parliament is to do everything possible to maintain the effectiveness of the Accounting Chamber,” the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine said, adding that the best practices of foreign audit institutions are constantly being studied to improve the work of the Accounting Chamber.
In addition, during the meeting, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine informed about legislative changes aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of the Accounting Chamber and expanding its powers. In particular, these are the latest changes in the legislation regulating the ability of the Accounting Chamber to conduct compliance audits.
“In-depth cooperation with the supreme audit institutions of foreign countries, development and strengthening of the Accounting Chamber will help to adapt the procedures of external state audit to international standards and strengthen the role of the Ukrainian Parliament in the process of exercising control functions,” the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine concluded.